The Federalization of Immigration in Canada

The Federalization of Immigration in Canada

Public lecture by Mireille Paquet, Ph.D.

Wednesday 20 July 6:30pm

The Allan Barton Forum, 2nd floor, College of Business & Economics, Kingsley Place [Building 26C], ANU

In Canada, immigration is a concurrent jurisdiction according to the Constitution. Since 1867 and despite formal powers, subnational governments have resisted any implication in this policy area, preferring a strong federal leadership in policy design and policy implementation. The gradual liberalization of Canada’s immigrant selection policies and the modernization of the country’s approach to immigrant integration was the result of federal unilateral activities. Since the 1990s, this peaceful pattern of federal dominance and subnational passive avoidance has dissipated in favour of a growing mobilization of subnational mobilization regarding immigration. Over time, this mobilization has contributed to a federalization of the governance of immigration in Canada; subnational governments have gained growing immigrant selection powers, are now central players in the design and implementation of national policies related to immigrant integration and immigration is the object of intergovernmental conflicts. This presentation explores the mechanisms that have supported this gradual process of institutional change, in particular the subnational governments’ state-building efforts in reaction to a shifting economic and political context at the national and international scale.

About the speaker:
Mireille Paquet is an assistant professor of political science at Concordia University, in Canada. She is the director of the Centre for Immigration Policy Evaluation (https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/polisci/research/cipe.html) and a leading expert in Canadian immigration politics and policies. Her current work – funded by the FQRSC – focuses on the governance of immigration and integration policies in federal regimes (Canada, United States and Australia), with a specific attention to the activism and activities of subnational units. Mireille Paquet is also conducting research on public administration and immigration, and is especially interested in the role of public servants in the formulation of immigrant selection policies.